Perception- an open SYOT
by I believe in nargles too
Summary: "I am not weak!" She screams into the distance, but no one hears her. They only hear what they want to hear. Open SYOT 9/12 spots taken! ANNOUNCEMENT- there are now 12 slots instead of 10
1. Chapter 1

They were just children. I put on a mask of a perfect Capitolite. My father ran the games: how could I complain. I couldn't rock the boat. I was just a woman.

The Capitol, on the outside looks picture perfect. Everyone smiling and no one is ever afraid or alone. But in reality, it's a cold, dark _sexist_ place. It's everyone for themself and people will do anything to survive.

My father was a cold man. He never lay a finger on me, or my younger sister, but I caught him glaring. We weren't the male heirs he wanted and there was nothing we could do.

It's no surprise that my sister had crippling anxiety sand I always suspected she used drugs to mask her feelings. When she turned 18 she left home for good. She went off the map completely.

My family put on a mask of concern, pretended to look for her. But no one except I really cared. We held her memorial a month after she went missing. It was in a big marble room and my father gave a speech.

It was a beautiful speech but he may as well have been hurling poison.

I honestly had no hopes for my future after that. I kept my head down for 10 years, not speaking a word that wasn't perfectly scripted.

When father died, with mother soon following, I wasn't the first choice to become president. Not that I cared. I didn't want the job. The Capitolite's wanted to vote but my father's will was clear. It had to be a family member of his, and since he had no siblings he had no Nephew's that could take over.

So the task fell onto me. I was 34 at the time, although years of forced surgery left me looking like I was in my early 20's. I was the exact stereotype of a weak woman, unable to handle the power.

And that's exactly what I was.

So when the Quarter Quell came out, proclaiming in black and white that only twn Tributes would be used, there were rumours in the Capitol.

Rumours that I was too weak to stomach death. That I had faked the announcement. _(Extensive research into President Cornelius Snow's presidency showed that if true I would have not been the first to do so.)_

But I hadn't.

However the rumour that I may have done so would not leave. Throughout the Quell, I was mocked by many reporters for being so weak. There was nothing I could say or do and the words seemed to follow me around like a dark shadow.

Finally, I decided enough was enough. So I take my pen off of this page and I implore to you, whoever is reading this, likely a Peacekeeper investigating the lack of communication to bring this to the light.

I am leaving you the last words I ever write. I hope you decide to share this, to stop being the cowards the District's believe you- us to be.

Signed-

 _President Catharina Strauss_

 **I so want to do a perfect SYOT**. **No long waits between each update, no getting unmotivated. Just a perfect run, start to finish. But however, I realise that to do that I need to have tributes... something I struggle to get.**

 **Perhaps this is my own fault, my writing isn't the... best, which I can acknowledge. However I really do care about this and I decided the best way to do this would be to only have about 10 tributes.**

 **So that's what I'm going to do.**

 **I hope my prologue has intrigued you to submit to this SYOT although I understand if you don't want to. (Wow, Nargie, self loathing is reallllly gonna help you here.) I hope to get all 10 submissions soon so I can start.**

 **I struggled to decide how to split this up, but ultimately I decided that there is a slot for each district except nine and ten, chosen as they are the Districts most tend to find boring as we have the least amount of information about them. As most submit girls, gender doesn't matter, although if you choose to submit a boy, it would be awesome.**

 **Please don't submit a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. If I get more than one submittion to the same District, the first Submitter will get the chosen District and the second will get their backup.**

 **I chose even numbers so there can be up to two careers, although if you want the slot from two or four and decide to not make them a career that's also completely fine because character diversity y'all.**

 **As I struggle to imagine a world where 10 people willingly give up a tribute they worked hard on (SHUT UP NARGIE) to me, you can have up to two slots.**

 **Form**

 **Name: (A district relation would be good, please no Bob's for District Two)**

 **Age:**

 **Birthday:**

 **Religion:**

 **District:**

 **Sex:**

 **Gender, if different from Sex:**

 **Sexuality:**

 **Appearence:**

 **Faceclaim: (Mandatory, although please make it age appropriate, meaning NO 30 YEAR OLDS)**

 **Personality:**

 **Backstory:**

 **Family:**

 **Friends:**

 **Sense of style:**

 **Favourite colour: (I'm English if you hadn't guessed,)**

 **Talent:**

 **Favourite thing about their self:**

 **Least Favourite thing about their self:**

 **Deepest fear:**

 **Dream:**

 **Fatal flaw:**

 **What would they wear to their reaping:**

 **What would their ideal chariot Outfit be:**

 **What would their horror chariot Outfit be:**

 **What would their ideal interview Outfit be:**

 **What would their horror interview Outfit be:**

 **Reaped or volunteer:**

 **What were they doing before the reapings:**

 **Would they have Allies:**

 **How close would they get with their allies:**

 **Are they likely to survive the bloodbath:**

 **How do you imagine them dying:**

 **Character arc idea: (not mandatory, but each of the characters will have one of these and if you have an idea for one please share,)**

 **What do they focus on in training:**

 **What would their Score be: (subject to getting higher or lower)**

 **How did they get this score:**

 **Previous training:**

 **Ratings: (from 1-10)**

 **How smart are they:**

Subcategories (1-5- sorry if that's annoying/confusing)

English:

Maths:

Science:

Memory:

 **How athletic are they:**

 **How flexible are they:**

 **How friendly are they:**

 **How honest are they:**

 **How trusting are they:**

* * *

 **Taken/Open Slots:**

* * *

 **District 1-** Jasmine Ametrine- Female

 **District 2** Romulus Smyth- Male

 **District 3** Saxia Masone- Female

 **District 4** Nimue Killick- Female

 **District 5** June Penumbra- Female

 **District 6** Chevy Chase- Male

 **District 7** Kive Oakemarke- Male

 **District 8** Tweed Helvy- Male

 **District 9- Reserved**

 **District 10** Aqua CollinsWorth- Female

 **District 11** Oliver Gunrass- Male

 **District 12** Ash Carbo Smith- Male

 **NOTE: I'm not taking anymore guest submittions**

 **If you've been willing to fill all that in, thank you so much. I hope you continue to read my story and even enjoy it. My birthday is March the 18th and whilst I can't promise, I will attempt to finish around then.**

 **Thank you all, and even if you don't want to submit, I hope you think about reading. I am off to plan out the arena, uniforms and that sort of stuff. I hope to have another prologue chapter up soon.**

 **I know 10 is a weird number, but 6 is too small and 12 feels too big and I like even numbers more than odd numbers- plus I'm in year 10 so... yeah...**


	2. The Reapings

**Hey guys, I hope you aren't pissed that I deleted the past chapters. I can give them back if you'd rather me do the traditional Hunger Games. But I realised that I wanted to make this different. So not only are there only 12 tributes, each chapter will give them a few hundred words each. This does however mean that as the games go on, each chapter will get smaller and smaller. This is for two reasons.**

 **1: It will be easier to write.**

 **2: I believe it will mimic the loss of hope as the games progress (yes, I'm a 14 year old, I'm allowed to be a pretentious little fuck.)**

 **As I didn't want to post this with empty promises: Here are all the reapings for you.**

 **With the District 11 it was hard as I liked what I had, so his is the only one slightly differently formatted.**

* * *

District One:

* * *

 **Jasmine Ametrine (Female)**

 ** _They broke the wrong parts of me. They broke my wings and forgot I had claws._**

* * *

I am Jasmine. I am proud of being me.

Not everyone likes that. And I'm okay with that.

I'm Jasmine. I'm part of an organisation that teaches me to kill kids as young as twelve. I'm Jasmine, I'm socially awkward and I hold grudges too long.

But I'm also a loyal friend. I'm skilled, I'm a perfectionist and I'm strong.

I'm not ashamed of myself.

People try to tear you down.

The trick is to get get back up and make yourself ten times stronger.

Like I said: I'm Jasmine and I'm proud of being me.

* * *

District Two:

* * *

 **Romulus Smyth (Male)**

 ** _You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft_**

* * *

People think I could be described in many words. But not really.

Arrogant to some- that's a word I hear a lot- even if it's not that I think I'm better than everyone else- I just know I am.

But what people that don't live in One, Two or Four don't understand is that most careers could be described with the same word. For our entire lives, it's TrainTrainTrain. So being 'arrogant' doesn't make me 'special' or 'flawed.' It makes me a Career. That's not a personality trait: It's circumstance.

But there's another word people could use.

And I don't want them to use that word.

So I lock the (closet) door on that word and go back to being Romulus the Arrogant.

* * *

District Three:

* * *

 **Saxia Masone (Female)**

 ** _I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring_**

* * *

I hate District Three.

I'm sure many people say they hate their district. But I truly hate mine. Each day is a black and white blur blending into each other.

I sit in classes ( _that are too easy anyway)_ and begin to daydream. I daydream of the blue seas of Four, of the pretty flowers of Eleven, of the endless forests of Seven. Of the shiny jewels of One

My parents pretend to be satisfied but I'm not dumb. I'm not a robot like everyone else in Three. I'm intelligent enough to notice my name siunds like something from Two.

I'm intelligent enough to want out of this hole.

* * *

District Four:

* * *

 **Nimue Killick (Female)**

 _ **hark, now hear the sailors cry,** **smell the sea, and feel the sky** **let your soul & spirit fly, into the mystic...**_

* * *

How horrible I think it would be to be a sailor without a sea. To be left drifting, not on water but in life. To not have a path and be stumbling blindly.

Being a Career means I know my life. I'll die or I'll live in luxury. Each day has a schedule. Some can hate it but we'd be lost without planning.

Some plan with stars, some plan with paper, but I plan with a spear in a dummy and the smell of salt in the air.

It's beautiful, simple and deadly. The perfect combination.

* * *

District Five:

* * *

 **June Penumbra (Female)**

 ** _Curiosity killed the cat... but satisfaction brought it back_**

* * *

I know I'm not the smartest in the room, but why should that stop me from enjoying myself? If you know everything, there's nothing left to learn. Nothing left to be curious about. Nothing left to find out.

And who would want to live in a world where there isn't anything to find out. There's always people to see, things to do games to play, work to be done.

But sometimes, I think it would be nice to find something that I am the best at. Or not even the best. Just good.

Being average is nice. You can explore the world (or District 5) and not ever have to stop.

But I do wish I had my own talent. Just something I could do above average.

I guess that's why I'm curious.

I hope I find it one day.

* * *

District Six:

* * *

 **Chevy Chase (Male)**

 ** _Self-love is a good thing but self-awareness is more important_**

* * *

I've never harboured any delusions that I'm strong, brave or heroic for what I'm doing. I know it's wrong but I do it anyway.

I'm not perfect: I'm a teenager trying to feed my family. Sure, I bet some people have better ways of doing it but that doesn't change the motive.

Selling drugs doesn't make me a bad person. If it wasn't me, they'd get them from somewhere else and this way I don't have to see my four (why so many when you can't support them Mom and Dad?) sister's cheeks going hollow and eyes go glassy from hunger like so many kids in our age group.

I'm not perfect, but I try.

* * *

District Seven:

* * *

 **Kive Oakemarke (Male)**

 ** _Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being_**

* * *

I'm a strong believer in the idea that seeing your parents executed is enough to fuck a kid up for life.

In fact, I'm using myself as living experimentation for this.

5 years ago, my parents were outed for being extremely rebellious and the peacekeepers decided to make examples out of them. I'd like to say they aren't alwats that bad, but the guys in Seven are a bit too trigger happy if you ask me. They paralysed a guy for leaving work two hours early.

It was hushed up officially, but working in forests gives a large area for rumours to fly.

But I bet you're wondering: ' _what are your views Kive?'_

My views are whatever keeps me alive for my remaining family.

* * *

District Eight:

* * *

 **Tweed Helvy (female)**

 ** _Even the best of friends cannot attend each other's funeral_** ** _._**

* * *

Less than a year after my best friend died, people expected me to be over it. It's like "I'm so sorry! Wait, it's been a month, you're on your own now."

For family it's different. Family gets all the time they need to grieve. Even Fedlen's girlfriend, who he'd only known for about a year was allowed to be more upset than me.

I'd known him since we started working in the dress shop together at 11 years old, and we'd been best friends as soon as he forgave my immature 11 year old ass for taking his chalk when I'd lost my own.

People seemed to not care about the impact his death had on me but it didn't matter.

Why should I care about how valid they find my feelings?

* * *

District Nine:

* * *

 **Demi Callisto (Female)**

 ** _You look at me and cry 'everything hurts'. I hold you and whisper 'but everything can heal'_**

* * *

 _"What were you doing?"_

 _"What were you wearing?"_

 _"What did you say?"_

And those were the people who believed me.

I was a 13 year old girl, kicked out for being pregnant. People didn't believe that I didn't want this. They called it karma.

He was so funny and friendly.

But he was so strong and scary.

I couldn't get him off of me so everything became my fault.

When my stomach started swelling my parents refused to stand by me. Kicked out, cold and lonely.

Hayley took me in but her parents were too religious to have anything but cold indifference to me. The thing inside my stomach grew.

And here I am now.

Why would I have asked for this?

* * *

District 10:

* * *

 **Aqua Collinsworth**

 ** _You're worth it. Even if the world tells you you aren't._**

* * *

Typical rich girl snob sob story. Mummy walked out and girl acts out to hide the fact that Daddy doesn't love her.

Calls herself Aqua (real name Evelyn) because she's unsatisfied with life. Uses expensive dyes to her hair blue so people look at her appearence instead of her.

Everything I do, someone's already done it. Out in the open I'm a delinquent. I drink hard (rich snob remember) and graffiti up the District with my (older) friends.

Aqua, the nickname most call me is the most genuine thing about me. It's weird for a farm girl, (even a rich one) but I love water. It calms me. So Aqua seemed the way to go. I think most people forget my birth name nowadays.

Inside though, I love baking. The steadiness in knowing that following the recipe, everything will turn out perfect.

That's something you just can't get with life.

* * *

District Eleven:

* * *

 **Oliver Gungrass (Male)**

 **~One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too~**

"Come on Luna," I coax my daughter but she refuses to open her mouth. She's generally a fussy kid and she hates eating.

Sometimes the only person that can feed her is her mother, my ex girlfriend Kimberly. We only broke up recently and I still see occasionally but Luna, my daughter loves her.

Our relationship was once innocent but as we hit puberty, we started noticing each other. At the age of 12 we started going out. No one thought it would last, but we survived 3 years. We had a small blip when Luna was born but after that we were fine.

We didn't really want to stop dating, but we had realised we were too different. We wanted different things. We tried to not let the stress hurt Luna but maybe it did, even accidentally.

But maybe that's not the reason.

Because there's something special about both Kimmy and Luna. Something I can only remember on my good days. The days I can afford medication.

They've both been dead for two years.

Luna was a stillborn and Kimmy died in childbirth. Sometimes, I remember that Luna isn't real. That really, she's just a stupid ball with a face on it.

But then my medication wears off and she's my perfect, beautiful daughter again.

* * *

District 12:

* * *

 **Ash Carbo Smith (male)**

 ** _Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins_**

* * *

People say kids are innocent, but kids can be cruel. When you're a child, kids words can force you to retreat inside yourself. They can make you see yourself as a monster.

I'm not a monster. I know that now. But as a child, my deeply scarred arm and increasingly closed off demeanour gave that effect.

It was as if I had a giant sign saying stay away, written on me.

I couldn't speak to people my age for being shunned, so I turned to religion for comfort. Not many in Twelve are religious- who would believe in a higher Being when kids are being forced to their deaths- but bibles are ready sold and mine gave me a sense of belonging.

And knowing I was human when being treated like a monster was the only thing that kept me sane.

 **I told you they would be short. I'm sorry I keep changing this story so much. The actual reaping scenes will be posted when I get round to them and I'll reveal the ages of each Tribute then. I hope you guys enjoy. Please review so I know it's okay (or not,) to do them like this.**


End file.
